1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a metal terminal retaining device which uses a flexible retaining member for retaining a metal terminal in a terminal receiving chamber of a connector used for connecting, for example, wire harnesses of an automobile.
2. Background
FIG. 6 illustrates a connector for retaining a terminal therein. As illustrated, a terminal d having a wire c connected thereto is inserted into a terminal receiving chamber b of a connector housing a, so that a projection f of a flexible retaining piece e engages an annular retaining groove o provided in the terminal d. Thereafter, a spacer k is inserted into space h to prevent downward displacement of the flexible retaining piece e, thereby securely retaining the terminal. Such a device is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 54-11515.
In the above connector, although the spacer k prevents a downward flexible displacement of the flexible retaining piece e, the spacer does not prevent a displacement of the flexible retaining piece e in the lateral direction (i.e., into and out of the paper in FIG. 6).
In view of the above problem, it is an object of this invention to provide a metal terminal retaining device in which a retaining reinforcement member for a flexible retaining piece is inserted into a connector housing to securely retain the flexible retaining piece, thereby overcoming the above problem.